I managed to get a few days away a couple of weeks ago and headed over to Kansas City to attend a cooking class hosted by Rod & Sheri Gray from Pellet Envy. Rod & Sheri Gray, began competing as Pellet Envy in 2001. In addition to being the pit masters of a national championship barbeque team, Rod & Sheri cater, teach, and promote barbeque as America’s cuisine. Their passion for barbeque and outdoor cooking is obvious, they have competed in over 250 events all across the country in the last nine years. In that time, Pellet Envy has won over 60 championships and has ended each season as a top nationally ranked team eight straight years. Additionally, Rod and Sheri Gray have been invited to compete in the Jack Daniel’s World Championship five times in the team’s short career.

The flight was pretty easy, 7 ½ hours to Detroit then a further hour ish to Kansas City. The food was particularly bad however previous trips told me that I could get a plate of hot wings at the sports bar when I got to Detroit! Arriving in Kansas I was surprised to see almost 1ft of snow, however they can actually cope with it! Why is it that in the last couple of days, roads in sussex had 2” on the ground and cars were stuck for 12 hours?? Incredible! However we aren’t here to talk about the weather.A must for anyone spending time in Kansas is a visit to the Kansas City Barbecue Store, it has a great range of rubs, sauces, gadgets, cookers, unlike anything you will find in the UK.Another stop has to be Oklahoma Joes, back in 2011 on our last American Royal outing; the British BBQ Society team were giving a full tour of their facility which was impressive to say the least. Once there I had a hard decision to make, I fancied pulled pork but they are famous for their Z-Man so doing what any guy would and for the sake of being able to tell everyone what they were like I ordered both!!!!I have to admit that they don’t look pretty! In fact thrown together would be an understatement which was a little disappointing but when you see the queue, I understood why they were moving so quickly. The Z-Man which is sliced brisket with cheese, sauce and crunchy onion ring was, nice. The smoke flavour didn’t really work for me, more bonfire than complimentary. However the Pulled pork didn’t disappoint, throwing the coleslaw on it, creating a soggy mess that was to die for!When it comes to Rod & Sheri’s class I obviously cannot tell you anything about the contents, this is how people such as them make their living and it wouldn’t be right for me or anyone else attending to give away their secrets for nothing (of which there were a few!). A few things of note were Rod’s new rubs and sauces which were very good, I can imagine them having a significant place on the competition circuit over the next few years. Tasty but inoffensive. Hopefully they will find their way into the UK market in the not to distant future. The most positive thing I took from the class is that the advice I have been giving teams in the UK for the last 4 years was spot on. Cook well first then worry about your flavour. Cook for the masses, not for individuals.

Now off to pack for The Cornfed Class class being run by Ryan Newstrom & Joe Beland this weekend in Iowa!

It is a struggle, working hard on behalf of........................ what am I talking about this year is about reigniting the passion that had been lost. I will be posting about a couple of competitions I will be entering this year and asking if anyone would like to join me. Just fun weekends to see what all the fuss is about.

About time you got back into it, (that's what I've been told by older posters) I pity the foreign teams taking on TeamS Gb this season as everyone seems to be fired up (pun intended........where are my smilies ) about the forthcoming summer and comp season ;)